Betsy Wolfe is Absolutely Fine. And Other Concerns.

Photo by Jacqueline Harriet

By Victoria Myers

Betsy Wolfe is absolutely fine. Well, she wishes it was easier to do something more to help the people affected by Hurricane Harvey because it should be easier and people should just do the right thing, and how, if you are in any way a person with a public presence, do you use that presence to do the right thing without it crossing over into self-serving solipsism? What if you just want to do the right thing because, for you, it’s just the right thing to do?

Betsy has been working a lot lately. In June, she took over the role of Jenna in the Broadway musical Waitress. Since then, she has been on an almost non-stop schedule of rehearsals, press commitments, and doing eight shows a week. And then there are e-mails to be answered, phone calls to be returned, and social media to be kept up with. It is a lot. The other day she got run over by a bicycle and there is currently a large, bloody bruise on her ankle. On a Tuesday at the end of June, a few weeks after starting in Waitress, she was at the Plaza Hotel at 8am to shoot a scene for The Interval’s forthcoming short film project. The night before she’d performed in a concert, and after shooting her scene, she went straight to a rehearsal and then into the evening performance of Waitress followed by a two-show day. She does not have much time for herself or to get sick or to sit around for long stretches of time thinking about her feelings. But, just so you know, this is the life she chose and she loves what she does; in other words, she is someone who understands the costs of things.

Betsy Wolfe believes in God. And Betsy works pretty damn hard at her job. And again, just so you know, she really loves her job, which I know because she told me many, many times, and because it is fairly obvious.

The following interview was conducted over several days and has been edited and condensed.